Hilarious–enjoy it all.

William Shakespeare died 400 years ago today, on St George’s Day, at the age of 52, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. His was the greatest English mind ever to have existed. Sir Henry Irving observed: “The thought of such a man is an incomparable inheritance for any nation.” And truly, it is impossible to calculate the depth and breadth of influence his writings have exercised upon the nations and peoples of the whole world. “He was,” as Ben Johnson wrote, “not of an Age, but for all time!”

Read it all

..There is a character in Thomas Hardy’s novel Far from the Madding Crowd who says, ‘There is this to be said for the Church [of England], a man can belong to the Church and bide in his cheerful old inn, and never trouble or worry his mind about doctrine at all’. Now, that is something of a caricature but there is a good deal of truth in it to make it work. True that a life of Christian devotion and duty – of rendering unto God the things that are his, that is, our whole selves – has room in it for the odd gin and Dubonnet and pale ale and smiles when a horse wins at Ascot or (and I find this hard to say) when England win at cricket, just as it has for sitting with Secretaries day after relentless day poring over correspondence, or with almost superhuman tact and wisdom steering her way through the weary maze of political life or attending to those many duties that fill the Court Circular of the Daily Telegraph.

It seems to me at any rate, that Her Majesty the Queen has understood what many people (including many religious people) fail to grasp, that all life is God’s, and that it is the manner that we do the ordinary things of life, which is a true discipleship. It is not everything that has to be said about the Christian Faith, and it presupposes a trust in Him, but it is a great deal.

In finishing if I may use those quaint old words from 1662 The Litany of the Book of Common Prayer; today we give thanks to God that it has pleased Him to guard and bless His servant Elizabeth our most gracious Queen and Governor these 90 years and to have ruled her heart in His faith, fear and love; and we pray that she may evermore have affiance in Him, and ever seek His honour and glory as long as she shall live. Vivat Regina. Long live the Queen.

Read it all

Enjoy them all (Hat tip: VM).

The leaders of tomorrow will be well versed in dead philosophers, according to a new database of college syllabi.

The Open Syllabus Project, a collection of over 1 million curricula from English-language colleges and universities over the past 15 years, released its data on Friday (Jan. 22). Plato, Hobbes, Machiavelli, and Aristotle overwhelmingly dominate lists in the US, particularly at the top schools.

The required readings skew toward the humanities””science and engineering classes tend to assign fewer titles””and not surprisingly, toward the Western canon.

Fascinating–see what you make of the lists.

Lift up our souls, O Lord, to the pure, serene light of thy presence; that there we may breathe freely, there repose in thy love, there may be at rest from ourselves, and from thence return, arrayed in thy peace, to do and bear what shall please thee; for thy holy name’s sake.

But I call upon God; and the LORD will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he will hear my voice. He will deliver my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.

–Psalm 55:16-18

The Board of Trustees of Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto, is pleased to announce the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Andrews as the 10th Principal of Wycliffe College.
———————————————————————————–
The Rt. Rev. Dr Stephen Andrews has been the Bishop of the Diocese of Algoma since 2009. He studied Classics at the University of Colorado and theology at Regent College and Wycliffe College, where he received his M.Div. degree in 1984.

After two years in London as Study Assistant to The Rev. Dr John Stott, he was ordained in the Diocese of Nova Scotia in 1986 and served as the Assistant Curate at historic St Paul’s, Halifax, until 1990. He completed a Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University in 1995…

Read it all